PLA 2001 Spring Symposium Program, Registration Information Available
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SEPTEMBER 2000
FROM: BRENDAN DOWLING
PLA COMMUNICATIONS ASST.
312-280-5021
Plans for PLA’s 2001 Spring Symposium are well underway, with five exciting
programs available to attendees as well as many special events, including
an author luncheon, that will keep symposium-goers busy during their stay
in Chicago. Here are just a few of the things PLA has planned for the
event.
Registrants will have the option of attending one of the five programs offered during the symposium. “Emerging Formats: How eBooks, DVDs, and the Internet are Changing the Publishing and Library World” will explain how these formats came about and reveal what key players in the publishing industry see for the future. “The Early Literacy Initiative: How Libraries Can Prepare Children to Learn to Read” will outline several new programs compiled by PLA and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in a series of how-to sessions, coupled with background presentations by leading authorities on reading and emergent literacy. “All Aboard! Destination Digitization” encourages public libraries of all sizes to make available unique local resources on the Internet, focusing on local history collections. In ”Building the Perfect Library,” experienced architects and librarians will share their expertise on avoiding the perils and pitfalls of a building experience. Finally, “Organizational Culture: Affecting Change Internally to Deal with Changes Externally” will clarify the organizational changes needed for libraries to be responsive to changes in U.S. society and specific user communities.
John Kretzmann, co-director of the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) Institute, will deliver the keynote address. The ABCD Institute, a research project of the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University, works with community building leaders across North America to support community-based efforts to rediscover local capacities and to mobilize citizens’ resources to solve problems. Kretzmann has also taught at Northwestern University, Valparaiso University, and the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.
Acclaimed author Dennis Lehane will serve as author luncheon speaker. Lehane’s A Drink Before the War won the Shamus Award for Best First Novel and his Prayers for Rain was both a New York Times Notable Book and a 2000 Shamus Award Nominee. Publisher’s Weekly dubbed Lehane “the hippest heir of Hammett and Chandler” and Michael Connelly praised Lehane’s ability to turn “the hard boiled detective novel into an elegiac treatise on the corruption of the soul.” Lehane’s latest novel, Mystic River, will be published in February.
PLA has also organized a series of exciting tours and special events to keep attendees busy during their time in Chicago. Registrants may visit Chicago’s Merchandise Mart, one of the world’s largest international trade centers, to get new ideas about furnishings for a library building project. Tours of the new Schaumburg Township District Library as well as area suburban libraries will also be available.
For more information, call the PLA office at 1-800-545-2433, ext. 5PLA.